US-listed Bitcoin (BTC) miners accounted for 25.3% of the global network in December, Jefferies said in a research report released on Thursday.
The bank lowered its price target for MARA Holdings (MARA) from $24 to $20, while maintaining its hold rating on the stock. Shares rose 0.5% to $18.43 in early trading Friday.
Mining profitability improved in December, with the average bitcoin price increasing by 15%, outpacing the increase in the network’s hashrate, which was 6.5% higher, according to the report.
Hashrate refers to the total combined computing power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain and is an indicator of industry competition and mining difficulty.
The average daily income was $59,585 per exahash, an increase of 7.1% from November, Jefferies said.
U.S.-listed mining companies mined 3,602 bitcoins in December compared to 3,404 the previous month, the bank said. Jefferies noted that MARA mined the most bitcoins last month with 890 tokens, followed by CleanSpark (CLSK) with 668.
MARA’s installed hashrate remained the largest in the industry at 53.2 exahashes per second (EH/s). CleanSpark had the second highest hashrate at 39.1 EH/s, the report added.
Learn more: Bitcoin mining profitability increased in December for the second month in a row: JPMorgan
